Dr Pat Utomi answers wide ranging questions submitted by NVS members on why he want to be the President in 2007, Security/Law and Order, the formidable opposition he faces and vested interests, his platform , infrastructural development, Contract with Diaspora, Power Blocks,  Education, Branding Nigeria, Niger-Delta, Ethnic  crises,  Corruption and Campaign Finance.  You dont want to miss a second of this very engaging encounter.
 

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Conducted on Sunday July 9, 2006 Interviewer: Sola Adewunmi

Why do you want to be the President in 2007?

• I am convinced that the signs are frightening enough and if people who have given enough thought to the situation do not step forward to bat, we may not have a Nigeria 10 years from now. You know there have been many scenarios projected about the future of several regions. You will recall that last year, the US intellgence projections suggested that Nigeria could be a failed state in 15 years. Rather than take the usual dismissive attitude, I reflected very deeply on this and the more I came to the conviction that unless we move away from Business as usual its true that Nigeria may not exist 10 years from now.
• Let me give a few pointers. We talk about economic reforms I have been talking about reforms long before people who have become famous for reform came to the subject. But if you check several surveys e.g Afrobarometer say that most Nigerians feel alienated that these reforms have not improved their lives. Then you look at the level of unemployment in spite the enormous income from crude oil sales. You see an army of disenchanted unemployed youths that could be easy recruits that for schemes that could lead to the collapse of our country.

Security: “We are in the throes of revolution”

• 1^st step is in dealing with security is to provide food security and job security, because of the army of unemployed available. Niger Delta has become full insurgency. You see Robin Hood-type armed robbery operations. They raid a bank and as they drive away, they throw money to the people. This is just not robbery but we are in the throes of revolution

• So the first thing is job security Job security that would put millions of Nigerians back to work, creating infrastructure.

Law and Order and Police reform “Policing to be effective needs to be a local function”

• You go from providing job security and food security in agriculture, reinventing manufacturing to dealing with specific issues of law and order. We’ll deal with law and order through a complete reform of police in Nigeria . First recruits more educated people, pay them well and give them better level of prestige.

• I would get into the controversial area of the nature of policing – Federal, State, police, which has become a contentious issue that it should not be. People say local police will be used to intimidate opponents as if the FG has not intimidated with the police today. Policing to be effective in any part of the world needs to be a local function. Policing should be based on local needs. In the US here for example , you have the university police, city police, county police, and state police

• People say local authorities will violate human rights. That was the case here in the US but the solution to that is that any human rights issue becomes a federal function.

• So if we put that machinery in place in Nigeria , there will be several levels present, but there will the coordination to make sure abuse does not take place, yet policing stays close to the people. Then with effective training and equipping, and also make them mobile force, not just people who stay at checkpoints will ensure law and order takes place.

How do we fund these?

• It’s a matter of priority. If you know the rubbish we waste money on today in Nigeria . If you take away just the unnecessarily travels of Government officials as an example, you will have enough money to fund the police many times over if you cut out the waste, you will have enough money.
• Secondly, when people believe government is truly working for them. Tax reforms. If what happens in Lagos State happens at federal levels, Nigerians will be amazed at how much revenue is available to servicing the State. When Tinubu came, State revenue was I think 600 million a year, this year they expect to raise 82billion in local revenue because of tax reforms.
• So reform of the tax system will provide enough money to fund a good police force. And as we have a good police force, law and order, business will grow and there will even be more revenue. So funding as an excuse is really an excuse

Is this tied to Resource control in any way?

• We live in a federal state and fiscal federalism suggest that revenue will come from shared pool at the federal level and from locally generated resources. In the 60s, when we had true federalism, revenues from local areas were sent to the center. .basically the federating units should raised their revenue and moved some agreed value to the center.
• Whether we call it resource control or resource management, its all semantics. What is important is that revenues accrue to federating units and these come from two main sources– internally generated revenues and the one that is shared. The key is how to optimize these revenues for what the needs

How are you going to beat the establishment in the Nigerian Political Circle? What platform will you run on? How do you face formidable opponents like IBB, Atiku, Marwa? So how do you overcome money politics in Nigeria ?

• To start with, we are not going to play their own of game with them. It will be shortsighted to play their type of game. In fact our reason for being is to terminate their type of game in Nigerian public life. The game where we plunder the state and take revenues pillaged from the state to impose ourselves on the people and hold them hostage.  That must end. That is why we are contesting.We have a tremendous opportunity to bring forward the politics of ideas, politics of issues rather than I can buy you.

• The reason why this is plausible today is that Nigerians are at their wits end. People do not realize how fed up Nigerians are with the status quo and how they desperately desire change. Timing says Nigerians have had enough.
• The defeat of 3^rd term agenda also makes Nigerians feel empowered to reclaim their country from the extant political establishment that has kept Nigeria prostrate and made quality of life miserable.
• The structures of domination set up are being challenged in the games they have played the dominant political groups through very unhealthy practices infiltrated opposition parties deliberately worked things to destroy the opposition such as ANPP, AD completely dismembered as a result of unsavory activities of the dominant party. Now we have seen a reversal of fortunes. As they have destroyed the opposition, the expected implosion of PDP is very much underway; there are 3 factions now and maybe five before the end of the month. And so there isn’t a political party that is a true political party. This is good as it provides an opportunity to build something new.
• We began a few years ago to build an arrangement that was to envision a Nigeria we all desire and a capacity for making for making that come alive. It was a civil society at first when the CP in 93 created a group called the restoration group in 94 which was a broader grouping. These groups over the years have had retreat deliberate don Nigeria’s condition and came up charters – bills of rights, charters for the Nigerian people etc. its now decided this will become a political party with a clear ideas, a cohesive platform clear vision of Nigeria that we have shared very deeply and very clearly.
• Restoration group as we speak is being registered and by next week should formally be a political party in Nigeria . It will not go it alone but there will be coalitions, there will be partnerships, mergers. It’s on this platform that we will raise servant-leaders that will contest different positions including the presidency. We are looking for people who have the 4 Cs - Competence character compassion and commitment.

Economy, Infrastructure

• So much that could happen with entrepreneurship, so much that could happen with jobs is frustrated by lack of infrastructure. I worked with the World bank group on the PSA and it all boiled down to infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure
• A small company investing in Nigeria needs to invest 30% of its start up resources in power – basic stand by power. It cannot be competitive, it suffers and dies. I still cannot understand why it’s so difficult to give Nigerians power. This is the 21^st century.
• I always talk about the example of Philippines where Fidel Ramos fixed the issue of power in one term. In fact the Enron barges that came to Lagos were leftovers from the Philippines temporary support system. The Philippines is the sick man of Asia just like we seem to be considered in Africa . So if they can fix this, why not Nigeria .

• So it is Priority one for us is to make sure that within one term, we eliminate this challenge significantly. The first move of course would be to ensure this is not a problem for industry to provide enclave were we don’t have infrastructural challenge
• But what we would do is to ensure flood the country with power lines, Bring in Gas turbines that will produce power. Secondly as quick response, there are dozens of idle power plants around the world especially in the US just sitting there. Part of our strategy would be an exchange relationship building strategy would be to Make excess power plants in the US to Nigeria
• As gas turbines and pipelines circle our country, and we begin to generate power through them, whatever environmental challenges will be taken care of as those gas turbines start producing. We must get power going, because nothing else can happen if we don’t take care of that infrastructural challenge.

Powerful and Corrupt Interest groups in Power Generation

• Too much credit is given to the power these people have to disrupt. Its true but if we are serious about making things work, they don’t constitute enough of a hindrance.
• One of the ways to deal with those vested interests is to vest in them opportunities to make them make money in better order. The guys importing generators could be persuade to run the distribution company and shown how to make more money than importing generators.
• Also if they are made to realize that people could go on rampage and burn those generators if they are made to be seen that they are the ones responsible for the general frustration that the general community is feeling.
• So, managing that is very simple. That’s why I said it’s an exaggeration. It’s just an excuse for people who have not done their homework well or who are distracted by other things rather than serve the people. So if we deal with the new opportunities, those people will flower in a different direction and you will see real progress.
• Imagine you have up a team to solve a problem, two years after – miserable failure. The same team is still there 5 years later. In business if you have a management that is not performing, you fire them and bring in a new one. But we have had no change in leadership of the power sector for the past eight years, so how is it possible we know what we are doing.

Infrastructural Development

• Beyond the power, Infrastructure development is not ony a way to provide growth and development but is a way to immediately provide jobs and put money in peoples pocket and the spending of that money will have an effect that will ricochet to produce a virtuous cycle of growth and development

• My immediate goals will be to put on ground infrastructure like a standard gauge railway from Lagos to Calabar, Lagos to Abuja, Abuja to Kano etc as a way of providing jobs for hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Nigerians earning 20-30,000 Naira a month as they clear the jungle and do otherthings, it will provide opportunities for Nigerians in the Diaspora to come home to quality job to provide this infrastructure.

• The possibility of providing turnpikes, highways across the country using private capital from abroad using some of the capital/savings from oil revenue that we should not be spending carelessly in these public/private partnership driven by private players so that you don’t have the corruption and inefficiency of Government. We’ll essentially generate a renewal of the economy and produce a development that will take robbers off the street and put Nigeria back to reckoning around the world. Infrastructure will do that and we have a classic formula for doing that without heating up the economy and without falling into problems of resources.
• I visited the Philippines in 1997 and I saw lots of construction everywhere and my host told me it was all being built with private capital coming from Singapore in a BOT – build, operate and transfer.
• If we have clear legal framework in Nigeria , we can attract such companies with capital into Nigeria and invest the excess crude into bringing these enterprises with clear guidelines to employ Nigerians abroad to build such infrastructure. And without disrupting anything, you’ll see what this will do for the economy.

Contract with Diaspora

• The main objective of this trip is to establish Contract with Diaspora because I am convinced that the Nigerian renaissance will be driven significantly by how we harness the Nigerian Diaspora

• I’ve been studying India when in 1991, the PM had a treasury with 3 weeks reserve. India was prostrate. Rajiv Ghandi was not in a position to make major moves as that would have repudiated his family legacy. So Rao opened up India and the India Diaspora responded. You will see now that the biggest investment flow was from NRI . Their know-how and knowledge began the India transformation and had made India an economy to reckon with.I am saying we can do the same and much more for Nigeria

• I got on the point when Joseph Stiglitz visited LBS and said that as he gathered to go, he asked his assistant to gather information on Nigeria . One piece of information that shocked him was that of all immigrant communities in America , the Nigerians have the highest level of education. So how are we not able to mobilize these enormous resources to turn Nigeria around?

• I have since been working on a clear strategy on how we are going to do this. We are going to do this not only in terms of professionals being hired, We are going to do this in terms of creating industrial parks across Nigeria in which we’ll have the conditions that the NID can mobilize their networks, can make investments with all the enablers for them to make a major transformation of the Nigerian economic environment.

• We are going to take this in all infrastructural areas be in healthcare and other sectors where we know there is expertise in the Nigerian Diaspora. Without putting pressure on anyone to jump on the next plane and come to Nigeria , we will create a system where they will see mutual benefits in the transition

• We will create mortgage system that will allow people while out here begin to acquire homes in presidential estates that would compare to where they live here and they can easily transit into the Nigerian economy to make the kind of contributions that they can and should make. I saw that happen with my Chinese friends some of who took absence from the World bank and many of them never returned. That is what we want to see happen in Nigeria

• An opportunity to even have a better live than they have here as there are more opportunities than in a matured economy.

Power Blocks: How would you deal with the power blocks that have stifled the growth of Nigeria for the past 46 years?

"there’s nothing to fear but fear itself"

• One of the biggest we have is that people have sold themselves short. People have conditioned themselves to believe that failure is Ok. And so, when you see possibilities, people say but can it work.

• That’s in the same ballpark as this question of the need to be in coalition with evil – and we have had Thirty-something years of this evil with no progress. So, why don’t we come to an understanding that the real challenge we have is to show that the leadership we need is leadership by example. People that will show that they care and work for the people, everybody will have no choice but to create

• I think we are the ones that vest in these people who should be in prison in normal countries, a sense of omniscience that this country can’t do without us and have to deal with the evil that we are. That is clearly a danger that we give impetus to these realities
• Many of these people are really cowards. People who are passionately  committed to serving the Nigerian people will take decisions to ensure that  only those who care for Nigerian people step forward to bat
• I refuse to believe or accept that it is about how you manage the forces of evil. There are more good people than the evil people and democracy are in numbers and we should be able to get the forces of evil marching in the other direction.
• People underestimate the savvy of the well-exposed in managing the forces that are untowardly.  I remember Anwar Sadat who was butt of jokes, when Nasser was in power he appeared like a mumu until he became President and people could not believe he was the same Anwar Sadat the way he manipulated those who thought they had power. So leave it to history to show that there’s nothing to fear but fear itself

Education: In order to emancipate and empower the people, we have to be empowered mentally. But the education sector in a state of limbo. You head a highly-rated business school. What are your plans for education in Nigeria

• National competitiveness is related to the level of investment we make in Human capital.
• Back in the 50s/60s, we invested close to 7% of our GDP in education. The Ashby commission which was set up after independence made the point that our education was comparable to anyone in the world.
• Military rule led to a basic erosion of our basic values including the importance of education. We saw budgetary allocation continued to drop even below 1% of GDP. This has to change and I’ve made this point over and over with my friends in the current economic team. I told Iweala when she first came home that budgeting has to reflect new push in the social sectors -education and healthcare. Healthcare and education should get massive new investment to reverse the trend and build human capital.
• The point needs to be made that the private universities and institutions that have emerged in past 10 years, are making contributions that have not been fully measured yet. For example Covenant University and the quality of efforts from one mans vision. I have to give Kudos to Archbishop Oyedepo, who I consider a soul mate. I need not mention the good fortune we are making at LBS. It’s just a matter of commitment and we have those private universities making a difference already.
• We need to make sure that the educational focus on functional education that equips them to be functional in the Nigerian system. Not just note giving. But how does the education affects their utility in the economy.
• Talking about the diaspora, we have set up a thinkgroup here in the US essentially to deal with how the educational system become more functional. I intend to meet with some of these people on this trip and we do intend some revolutionary policies that will bring Nigeria forward.

Branding Nigeria positively: What are your strategies towards branding Nigeria positively?

• A number of things impact on how a country is perceived in the international arena. First the strategic importance to those who dominate the global arena is key.
• For me one of our key strengths that I want us to drive very hard is that we are located at the hub of what is emerging as the most important source of energy to the biggest consumption part of the world. That is the gulf of guinea and the consumers being of course US and Western Europe . In the past few years, most of the investments in oil and gas have gone into the gulf of guinea and the Caspian basin.
• Our commitment is to use this strategic advantage to deal with partners to understand that as we are valuable to their energy needs, so are they to our reconstructing our reputation and image and being players of respect in the international community
• Using that leverage, I do expect that we can re-brand Nigeria not only as an energy supplier but one with human capital that can make a major difference to a new world order.
• I have mentioned that we have the most highly educated immigrant population living in the US . I think that should be a key factor in how we position ourselves. That’s one of the reason the epicenter of my approach to the Nigerian renaissance is contract with the Nigerian Diaspora.

• The roles of Nigerian diapora in the US unsong will become very critical because Nigerians are playing very critical role in driving the American eonomy and the American govt., the world will need to realize that Nigeria has given so much value to the international community and will give way to a new sense of respectability  
• As we rebuild our institutions, we will find ourselves moving off from low reputation ratings appearing on transparency International index.
• By the time we deal with entry points like airports and seaports. By the time we have champions because failure has been a function of the way we appoint people. If we get people who are passionate about an area to g in there and run them. If we get more Dora Akunyilis running more agencies and getting more global spotlights. 10-15 people like that being recognized for outstanding jobs of transforming healthcare, ports, the world will come to a new view of Nigeria as a country of people who are competent, who are capable and who live integrity.

Function of embassies

• Foreign Service is made of very capable people who have not been made to work as they should. We will empower our Foreign Service people to truly shape how we engage in the intern arena giving the talent available in the Diaspora.
• A clear effort is being made in that regard and we must give credit to Pres. Obasanjo for recognizing the work that the former consul of Nigerian consulate in Atlanta (Joe Keshi) is doing in the Nigerian National Volunteer service to articulate a role for the Diaspora in Nigeria. Unfortunately have not empowered that office, but the FS will be more integrated to make the entire mission focus on using the Diaspora to rebuild Nigerian reputation and rebuild Nigeria itself.

Niger-Delta, Ethnic hegemony and crises

• I’m already active in private diplomacy so I have very good understanding of it. What I will do is bring on the platform of the administration some of the initiatives we have deployed already. Clearly frustration with how the Niger Delta was managed has led to what is now a full-blown insurgency.
• I have had the privilege of working on supportive initiatives to try and get the people in Niger Delta to look for a more peaceful way to protest the injustice that’s clearly there.
• As a government part of what I’ll ensure is a massive infrastructural development of the Niger Delta, massive investment of education, entrepreneurial extension services in Niger Delta to get people alternatively employed. I was in Bayelsa 3 weeks ago and the poverty is frightening. This to me is unacceptable. Justice demands that we change that and I’m sure by the time we put those kinds of things in place, we’ll see tem come alive and abandon the struggle,
• In the same manner, we will deploy conflict resolution capacities that are there to be deployed to deal with these ethnic problems many of which are in my opinion problems of extreme poverty and a struggle over very limited resources, so you’ll find Fulani herdsman, with his cattle grazes on the land of some Plateau native who take offence. All of it is result of poverty.  As we eradicate poverty, the people will move away from stereotyping one another.
• At the end of day is about quality of life of the Nigeria people, once we get that right, all these pestering sores will be healed.

Corruption: What will you do differently to fight corruption?

• The easiest way is to lead by such immaculate transparent personal example that nobody will have incentive to try it differently
• If you as a leader is so transparent and put in place institutions that ensure vertical accountability is such a way that the people can hold you accountable on a continuing basis. Develop systems and processes where your indices of performance are available to the ordinary people and they have means to ask you about that, I think to be corrupt will be very difficult.
• The weakness of the Obasanjo approach is that it depends almost exclusively on institutions of horizontal accountability such as EFCC and ICPC. Because those institutions are ordered to do this or do that, you will have people rightly or wrongly say they are only going after their enemies.
• But if you have the dominance of institutions of vertical accountability where you come to the people, be it in a town hall meeting, where people have clear information, people will not only see there is transparency but that they are part of ensuring that transparency.
• So the EFCC and ICPC will continue to function more effectively, but in addition, you will have more vertical accountability and I will show example by regular frequent sessions that are transparent.
• I will ensure we immediately enact the Freedom of Information act that will give individual Nigerians not just journalist, the right to demand for files to be made available to see that the interest of the Nigerian people is taken into account.

Freedom of Press

• A very free but a very responsible press. I have myself been involved in Nigerian media most of my adult life. I think the media has a important role to play.
• But the media has not been 100% responsible. There have been times the media have been abused and used by some elements in a disruptive way. There is also a significant level of corruption in the media
• However it’s a greater evil to block their access or being allowed to do their jobs than the risk of them writing untruths.
• I will rather have some abuse in the media takes place and the truth be told than I try to catch some corrupt journalist and the truth not be told.
• Our focus will be to open our systems but also ensure responsibility in the media, so they’ll abandon the business of being paid to twist information.

Campaign Finance

• This campaign will be financed by the Nigerian people. We are embarking on a process through which we’ll invite market women, students, professionals to contribute to our campaign funding. We do not expect that there’ll be some money bag putting up some big money and then demanding things from our government. The Nigerian people will fund us and hold us responsible for our actions. The little from the market women and professionals will be more than what any moneybag will give us.

 About Dr Patrick Utomi

Pat Utomi is Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Director of The Centre For Applied Economics at the Lagos Business School. He has served in Senior positions in government, as an Adviser to the President of Nigeria; the Private Sector, as Chief Operating Officer for Volkswagen of Nigeria, and in academia. He is the author of several Management and Public Policy books including the Award Winning Managing Uncertainty: Competition and Strategy in Emerging Economies.

His academic background covers a range from Policy Economics, Business Administration, and Political Science to Mass Communication. As an entrepreneur he has founded or co-founded companies that are active in fields including financial services, ICT, and media.

His articles are catalogued in the following link
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/content/category/4/96/55/

Village Square Podcasts will explore the personalities, principles and passions that influence Nigeria and her citizens and their effect on the nation in the larger world context, while advancing the tenor of dialog

The Podcasts are intended to educate, enlighten and entertain the discerning intellect. The Podcasts will feature in a lively, interactive format.

Abraxas  Villager  # 9 | 13.07.2006 13:09

Hi, Administrator (NVS)! Congratulations, and thank you very, very much for this pioneering effort at bridging the yawning gap between Nigeria's aspiring leaders and the thinking Nigerian public. This is the best thing that has happened in the Village since its inception! If nothing else, the Nigerian Village Square Interviews will become the benchmark of issues (not personalities) to be discussed and addressed, in fair depth, beyond the trite, bogus, vacuous, and hollow promises (of providing the usual clichés : roads, schools, hospitals, and potable water) in the debates leading to the forthcoming general elections in 2007. From all indications, Nigeria’s crop of untrainable prodigal old breed politicians (i.e. from General Obasanjo to General Buhari; from General Marwa to General Kotangora; from Sergeant Jokolo to General Babangida; from Papal Knight (Sir) Odili of Port Harcourt, Rivers State to Mujahideen Yerima of Gussau, Zamfara State; from Madam Bakassi to Mr. Fix It; from Orji Kalu of Umuahia to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of Aso Rock Annex; et al) are all palpably allergic to robust strategic planning, analysis, evaluation, and effective delivery of optimal non-populist solutions for tackling the seemingly intractable problems that Nigeria has to surmount, so as to avoid fulfilling the prophesy that Nigeria has been lined up (by the actions and inactions of its visionless politicians) to be a failed state by 2015. Definitely, this is the beginning of the end of such a callously arrogant, and sadistically indifferent mindset that allowed Chief Balogun General Olusegun (Baba 3rd Term) Okikiolakan Aremu Mathew Obasanjo (GCFR) the nerve to shun an invitation to partake in a televised open debate with his fellow contestant in 1999, with brazen impunity. The standard has been set. Now let us see those pea-brained so-called money bags come out openly to the Square, and attempt to either insult our collective intelligence, or wriggle out of their own pooh-pooh!. Thanks a million. Agradece milhão vezes. Agradecimentos você muito muito. Gracias de muchas. Muchas gracias.

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